Plate-moving mechanism for presses, punches, shears, and the like



H. RUFF. PLATE MOVING MECHANISM FOR PRESSES, PUNCHES, SHEARS, AND THELIKE. APPLICATION FYILED'JULY 12. me. RENEWED MAY 21. 1921.

Patented July 12} .1921.

HERBERT RUFF, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR O11 ONE-HALF TOLEON Gr. BUCKWALTER, O3? MERGHANTVILLE, NEW JERSEY.

PLATEEEOVING MECHANISM FOR lR-ESSES, PUNCH-TEE}, SHEARS, AND THE LIKE.

Application filed July 12, 1.918, Serial No. 244,660. Renewed May 21,1921 To all 1072 0712, may cwiccwi:

Be it known that l, Hniuunrr Burr, a citizen of the United States,residing in the city and county oi Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania,have invented a new and useful Plate-Moving Mechanism for Presses,Punches, Shears, and the like, of which the following; is aspecification.

In the handling of plates of sheet metal, such as are commonly used inshipbuilding, boiler plants and the like, in respect to the large powerpunches, shears or presses employed, it is well known to those skilledin the art that these plates are frequently eX tensive in area and areheavy and unwieldy to manipulate with respect to the press, punch, shearor the like, frequently requiring the assistance of several laborers inad dition to the operative of the punch or press, in order to properlyposition them With respect to the punch, shear or other implement.

It has heretofore been the practice to man ipulate or joggle theseplates and position them with respect to the punching, pressing orshearing implement either through the aid of several laborers or by atype of machine, which takes up considerable space, is somewhatcumbersome and whose first cost is greatly in excess of my presentinvention which is designed to obviate the foregoing}; disadvantages andconsists in its bread aspects of a power-driven, self-contained andreadily portable plate moving mechanism for moving plates in any desireddirection in a horizontal plane with respect to power or hydraulicpresses, punches, shears or the like.

In carrying out my invention, I employ a suitable portable framework onwhich is supported an electric or other motor connected by suitablegearing to a plate actuating wheel, which is located below and. normallyout of contact with the plate, said wheel having its periphery roughenedor serrated and being adapted at the will f the operator to beintermittently or continuously rotated and capable or" beingsimultaneously raised into contact with the under surface of the plateso as to propel or actuate the latter horizontally in the de eddirection, suitable means being provided for lowering and changing thevertical line of rotation of said actuating wheel, so that the 1&21.

Serial No. 471,523.

Patented July 12,

plate can be actuated in any desired lateral direction, forward, back orsidewise, or diagonally according to requirements.

To the above ends, my invention consists of the novel construction of ahardened, peripherally notched or serrated wheel revolvingintermittently or continuously about a horizontal axis, power cing takenfrom a small electric or other motor equipped with suitable speedreducing mechanism in con junction with manually operated means anderthe control of the on: ator tor ra'sing and lowering and changim theline of rotation of said wheel with respect to the plate, according torequirements. The electric motor can be operated continuously orintermittently desired, according to requirements, by means of a pushbutton, switch or the like of any conventional type which can beconveniently lo cated with respect to the hand oi the operator, so thata single operatr can efliciently manipulate the punching and platen'ioving mechanism with one handle or hand.

It further consists oi": the novel construc tion of vertical shaftcarrying the plate fiCtlllltll'lfl wheel, a (rear keyed to the lowerportion of said sha't't and a manually operated segment in mesh wit idrear for changing the position of said iertical shaft and wheel,

it further consists of the novel combination of the plate actuatingwheel. a vertical snaft therefor, a li irally movable handle and meanscarried by said handle for elevatinc or lowering said shaft and wheelduring the rotation of the latter.

For the purpose of illustrating my invention, I have shown in theaccompanying drawing one form thereof which is at present preferred byme, since the same will be found in practice to give satisfactory andreliable results, although it is to be understood that the variousinstrumentalities of which my invention consists can be varionslyarranged and organized. and that my invention is not limited to theprecise arrangement and'organization of these instrumentalities asherein shown and described.

Figure 1 r oresents a side elevation of a plate moving mechanism formoving plates in a horizontal plane, embodying invention.

Fig. 2 represents, on an enlarged scale, a

side elevation of a portion of Fig. 1, certain oi the parts thereinbeing shown in section.

Fig. 3 represents a perspective view of a portion of the-plate movingmechanism in detached position.

Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in thefigures.

Referring to the drawings,

1 designates my novel construction of plate moving mechanism for powerpunches, presses, shears and the like, the same comprising a suitableportable supporting frame 2, consisting oi a base portion 3 and anupright rear portion l, which has a laterally, forwardly extending; bed5, on which is supported asmall el ctric or other motor 6, which may beof any conventioiuil type and adapted to be continuously orintermittently rotated, as will be evident to those skilled in the art.

7 designates the motor shaft, which carries the outer and inner spurgears 8 and 9, which are in mesh with the spur gears 10 and 11respectively, which are mounted on the shaft 12, which rotates in theearings 18 on preferably the top of the motor 6, said gear 9 being looseon the shaft 7 and travelinoa much lower speed than said shaft.

it will be noticed that the gears 8 and 11 of relatively small diameteras compared 7 with the intermeshing gears 9 and 10, for the purpose ofreducing; the speed of rotation of the bevel gear 9 and the bevel gear1% thereon to the desired extent, said gears 9 and let being connectedby the sleeve 7* loosely mounted on shaft 7.

l5 designates double bevel gear whose lower .o'ear "eeth 16 are in meshwith the bevel gear lid and whose upper teeth 17 are in mesh with thebevel gear 18, which is secured to or integral with the hardened,periphei llynotched or serrated plate actuatiuer ii wheel l5), who:outer periphery rs as best in Figs. 2 and 3, being roughened, serratedor notched, said wheel ii) a l near 1.8 being; f eely revoluble upon thehorizontal shaft or stud 21, which pro e's laterally from the top of thevertical shaft .2, which has its lower portion of reduced (llfillilCiGl'nd is ro 'vatably mounted a in the vortica. bearing 2-i the shoulder 25serving a stop to arrest or limit the downward movement of he parts 22,and particularly to determine the normal position of the wheel 20, Thedouble bevel gear 15 composed of the gears 16 and17 revolves loosely onits shaft or hearing 22.

designates a pinion which is fast to the shaft and which is engaged bythe curved rack or segment 27 mounted on the arm which is ttulerumed atthe point 29 and terminates in the handle 30. V

31 designates a manually operated lever normally retained in theposition seen in Fig. 2, by the spring 32, said lever being pivoted at33 to the link 34:, whose lower end 35 is attached to a toggle or cammember 36, tulcrumed at 3? and having its upper end in contact with theunder side of the bottom ilange or terminal 38 or" the shaft 23.

39 designates a plate to be punched, sheared or otherwise treated and L0desig nates a punch or press of any conventional type, It will beunderstood that only a slight upward'movement oi the shaft 22 and itsadjuncts is required to bring the plate joggling' wheel 19 into contactwith the bottom of the plate 39, and that the gears 14: and 16 are soconstructed in practice that they will be in mesh at all times.

1 have shown in the present instance .a simple form of cam or eccentric86 employed as a raising and lowering device for the shafts 22 and 23and their adjuncts, said cam being :tulcrumed at the point 37 in theears ll which may be cast or secured to the ledge 42 but it will beevident that any other equivalent device as a suitable toggle mechanismmay be employed if desired.

The operation is as follows The parts normally appear as seen in Fig. 2,the plate actuating wheel 19 being slightly below and out of contactwith the under surface of the plate 39 which it may be desired to shifthorizontally. The wheel 19 may be revolved continuously orintermittently at the will of the operator by causing the con llllllOUSor intermittent rotation of the motor shaft 7 by any suitable form ofpush button, switch or the like, 4L3, the construction and operationwhich, it have'deemed it un necessary to describe in detail.

It will be apparent that so long as the wheel 19 is below and out ofcontact with the under surface of the plate 39, as seen in 2,.ncmovement of the latter can occur. When, however, it is desired toactuate the plate 39, the operator causes the wheel 19 to rotate byclosing the circuit of the motor 6 and upon gripping the handle 30and'pressing" on the lever 31, so that the partsassume the position seenat the left of Fig. '1, it will be apparent that the toggle, cam or itsequivalent, 36, will assume the position seen injFia. l, whereupon thevertical shaft composed of the parts 22 and 23, the gear 26, thehorizontal shaft 21 and the wheel 1.9,will be elevated, until the latteris in contact with the under surface of the plate 89 and the latter willthen forward, rearward, sidewise or diagonal direction to the desiredextent at the will of the operator, it being understood that gears 17and 18 are so constructed that their teeth will always be in mesh whenthe wheel 19 is in its raised position, as seen in Fig. 1, or indepressed position, as seen in Fig. 2.

The spur pinion 26 being fast to the upright shaft 23 and the horizontalshaft or stud 21 carrying the wheel 19 being secured to the shaft 22, aswill be understood from Fig. 2, it will be apparent that when the handle80 or" the arm 28 of the segment 27 is moved laterally or horizontallyabout its iulcruni point 29, axial rotation to the desired extent willbe imparted to the pinion and shafts 22 and 23 and their adjuncts, sothat the said hardened notched or serrated wheel 19 will be rotatedabout a vertical axis consequently permitting it to assume any desiredposition at the will oi? the operator. -1 do, when the notched wheel 19is For e i later-any rotated 180 degrees from the position seen the topof its periphery then travels in a direction opposite to that of itsoriginal position and hence a reversal of the line oi travel of theplate is accomplished ,iy merely turning the long handle 30 t re c h arelatively small are. When the il shaft composed of the members 22 id 23is depressed by releasing the hand ,e'rip or lever and cam or toggle 36or its eqiiivalent, the parts will assume the normal position seen inFig. 2 again, whereupon the not-shed wheel 19 is disengaged from thebottom surface of the plate 39 and the latter remains at rest.

It is obvious that the motor can be operdied continuously or atintervals as desired, v placing a push button, switch or the like on thehand lever 30. and, if desired, the entire device and particularly thegearing may be contained within a light sheet metal casing.

desired, further control can be effected by placing a push button switchon the handle 3 to control the electric solenoid oi the customaryconstruction which operates the or aging clutch of the punch if power orn or the controlling valve in the case of a hydraulic punch, wherebywith this latter arrangement one operator can completely manipulate thepunching and inoviu o the plate by one hand and where an ole 10 currentis not available, a small pneumatic engine as the motor of a pneumaticdi'll or the like can be substituted. for an electric motor, as will beapparent to those skilled in the art.

I have deemed it unnecessary to describe in deiwil these variousen'ibodinients of the use c. 11y invention as their general construction and mode of application will be iijiiilcnil to those skilledin the art.

will be seen from the foregoing that my present invention is light andportable and can be readily movedfrom one machine to the other accordingto whichever character of machine may be temporarily in use, as a punch,press or shear, and if desired the rear upright as i can be bolted orclamped to the front 01"" the punch, press or shear which may be in use.

In practice, I may make the bed or base may make all the parts 4; and

. single casting as seen in Fig. 3. in i 2, l have shown one convenientform of mounting the push button, switch or its equivalent 43 upon thehandle 30, said push button being electrically connected to the motor bya two wire flexible cable suitably fastened in place by small.insulating clips as 45, so arranged as to permit the :irec lateralmovement of the handle 80 about the fulcrum point 29. 46 designate:standard lamp socket or other plug or any suitable electric currenttapping device, which is secured to the double wire flexible cable 47which is connected at its other end as 48 to the power terminals of themoto said cable serving to conduct power to the motor 6 and beingpreferably made so as to be adapted to the conventional wiring of thebuilding or shop where the device installed. 7 l have omitted thePUSll-lfili} ton, wiring and their adjuncts from 1 for the sake ofclearness of illustration but it will be apparent from Fig. 2 that themotor can run intermittently or continuously at the will of the operatorand its operation can be controlled by the same hand which positions theplate actuating wheel 19. i am the first in the art to employ a deviceof this character and my claims thereto are to be interpreted inaccordance with the scope accorded to inventions of this character;

It will now be apparent that I have de vised a novel and usefulconstruction oi a plate moving mechanism for presses, punches and shearswhich embodies the features of advantage enumerated as desii. in thestatement oi the invention and the above description, and while I have,in the present instance, shown and described a preferred embodimentthereof which will be found in practice to give satisfactory andreliable results, it is to be understood that the same is susceptible ofmodification in various particulars without departinn from the spirit orscope or the invention or sacrificing any of its advantages.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a device of the character stated, the combination of a perhherally notched or serrated plate actuating wheel located normally belowand out of contact with the plate to be moved, means for rotating saidwheel and pivotally mounted manually operated means for elevating saidwheel into contact wi h the under surface of the plate to be moved.

2. In a device of the character stated, the

combination of a hardened, peripheral, notched or serrated wheel locatednormally below and out of contact with the plate to be moved, means forrotating said wheel, means for elevating said wheel into contact withthe under surface of the plate to be moved, and means for varying theplane of rotation of said wheel. 7

3. The combination of a suitable framework, a vertical shaft rotatablymounted therein, a stud projecting laterally from said shaft, a notchedor serrated wheel carried by said stud and having gear teeth thereon, agear loosely mounted on said vertical shaft, and means for rotating saidgear.

4. The combination of a suitable framework, a vertical shaft rotatablymounted therein, a stud projecting laterally from said shaft, a notchedor serrated'wheel carried by said stud and having gear teeth "thereon, agear loosely mounted on said -vertical shaft, and means for rotatingsaid gear.

a 5. The combination of a portable sup porting frame, a vertical shafttherein, a stud projecting laterally from said shaft,

a notched or serrated wheel carried by said stud and having a bevel gearthereon, a gear loosely mounted on said vertical shaft and in mesh withsaid bevel gear,- means for rotating said gear, and means for raisingand lowering said shaft-andwheel into and out of contact with the plateto be moved. 7 6. The combination of a portable supporting frame, avertical shaft therein, a stud projecting laterally, from said shaft, anotched or serrated plate actuating wheel carried by said stud and,having a bevel gearv thereon, a gear loosely mounted on said verticalshaft, means for rotating said gear,

-nieans for axially rotating said vertical shaft and means for raisingand lowering said vertical shaft and plate actuating wheel.

7. In a'device of the character stated, a portable frame comprising alower base portion, an upright portion and a bed lat orally extendingtherefrom, a motor mounted on said bed, a vertical shaft having itsbearing in said frame, a shoulder on said shaft to limit its downwardmovement, a double bevel gear loosely mounted on said vertical shaft, amotor shaft, a bevel gear on said motor shaft and in mesh with the lowerportion of saiddouble bevel gear, a shaft projecting laterally from thetop of said vertical shaft, a plate actuating wheel loosely mounted onsaid lateral shaft, and a bevel gear on the side of said wheel and inmesh with the upper portion of said double bevel gear.

8. In device of the character stated, a portable frame comprising alower base portion, an upright portion and a bed laterally extendingtherefrom, a motor mounted on said bed, a vertical shaft having itsbearing in said frame, a shoulder on said shaft to limit its downwardmovement, a.

double bevel gear loosely mounted on said vertical shaft, a motor shaft,a bevel gear on said motor shaft and in mesh with the lower portion ofsaid double bevel gear, a

9. In a device of the character stated, a

portable frame comprising a lower base portion, an upright portion and abed laterally extending therefrom, a motor mounted on said bed, avertical shaft having its bearing in said framefa shoulder on said shaftto limit its downward movement, a

double bevel gear loosely mounted on said vertical shaft, a'motor shaft,a bevel gear on said motor shaft and'in mesh with the lower portion ofsaid double bevel gear, a shaft projectin laterally from the top of saidvertical shaft, a plate actuating wheel loosely mounted on said lateralshaft, and a bevel gear on the side of said wheel and in mesh with theupper portion of said double bevel gear, in combination with means foraxially moving said vertical shaft'and its adjuncts. r r

10. In a device of the character stated, a portable frame comprising alower base portion, an upright portion and a bed laterally extendingtherefrom, a motor mounted on said bed, a vertical shaft having itsbearing,

in said frame, a shoulder on said shaft to limit its downward movement,a double bevel gear loosely mounted on said vertical shaft, a motorshaft, a bevel gear on said motor shaft and in mesh with the lowerportion of said double bevel gear, a shaft projecting laterally from thetop of said vertical shaft, a plate actuating wheel loosely mounted onsaid lateral shaft, and a bevel gear on the side of said wheel and inmesh with the upper portion of said double bevel gear, in combinationwith means for raising and lowering said vertical shaft and itsadjuncts, and means for axially rotating said vertical shaft and wheel.r

11. In a device of the character stated, a

portable frame comprising a lower base portion, an upright portion and abed laterally extending therefrom, a motor mounted on said bed, avertical shafthaving its bearing'in said frame, a shoulder on said shaftto limit its downward movement, a double bevel gear loosely mounted onsaid vertical shaft, a motor shaft, abevel gear on said motor shaft, andin mesh with the lower portion of said double bevel gear, a shaftprojecting laterally from the top of said vertical shaft, a plateactuating wheel loosely mounted on said lateral shaft, and a bevel gearon the side of said wheel and in mesh with the upper portion of saiddouble bevel gear, in combination with a pinion fast to the lower end ofsaid vertical shaft, a segment fulcrumed to said motor supporting bedand in mesh with said pinion, and means for laterally moving saidsegment.

12. In a device of the character stated, a portable frame comprising alower base portion, an upright portion, and a bed laterally extendingtherefrom, a. motor mounted on said bed, a vertical shaft having itshearing in said frame, a shoulder on said shaft to limit its downwardmovement, a double bevel gear loosely mounted on said vertical shaft, amotor shaft, a bevel gear on said motor shaft and in mesh with the lowerportion of said double bevel gear, a shaft projecting laterally from thetop of aid vertical shaft, a plate actuating wheel loosely mounted onsaid lateral shaft, and a bevel gear on the side of said wheel and inmesh with the upper portion of said double bevel gear, in combinationwith a pinion fast to the lower end of said vertical shaft, a segment inmesh with said pinion, a handle attached to said segment, cam mechanismfor the lower end of said shaft, and means carried by said handle foractuating said cam mechanism to raise or lower said vertical shaft andwheel.

13. In a device of the character stated, means for actuating a plate,manually controlled devices provided with a handle for positioning saidmeans, a handle for said devices and an electric control for said meanscarried on said handle.

14. In a device of the character stated, rotary means for actuating aplate by contact with the bottom thereof, electrically controlleddevices for operating said rotary means, and devices for changing theplane of rotation of said rotary means.

15. In a device for joggling heavy metal plates, a rotary plate jogglingwheel having a serrated periphery, electrically controlled devices forrotating said wheel, and manually operated devices for raising and lowering said wheel.

16. In a device for joggling heavy metal plates, a rotary plate ogglingwheel, electrically controlled devices for rotating said wheel, manuallyoperated devices for raising and lowering said wheel, and manuallyoperated devices for changing the plane of rotation of said wheel.

17. In a device of the character stated. a serrated wheel located belowand normally out of contact with the plate to be joggled, means forrotating said wheel, means for changing the plane of rotation of saidwheel, a handle on said latter means, a cam located below said wheel,and devices pivotally mounted on said handle and connected with said camfor actuating the latter.

18. The combination of a revoluble plate joggling wheel, means forrotating said wheel, manually operated means for raising and loweringsaid plate joggling wheel, and manually operated means for changing theplane of rotation of said plate joggling wheel.

19. The combination of a plate joggling wheel, means for rotating it, amanually operated lever, means actuated by said lever for changing theplane of rotation of said wheel, and manually operated means carried bysaid lever for raising and lowering said wheel.

RAYMOND I-I. Moran, LuoN G. BUoKwAL'rER.

